All Eyes on PSV USA 🇳🇱; The Tenacious Haji Wright 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

"Timmy is a role model and an important player for us. For our young players in particular, he’s a useful person to talk to on the pitch and in the dressing room. He manages to motivate people through his positive energy. We’re happy he’ll continue to play for us for at least another year."

—Eintracht Frankfurt board member Markus Krösche, on Timothy Chandler 🇩🇪 extending his contract with the Bundesliga side through the 2024-25 season. Amazing to see the erstwhile Bob Bradley Wunderkind transition into Germerican Glue Guy.

All Eyes on PSV USA:

In many ways, the center of the USMNT footballing universe these days is located in the city of Eindhoven, Netherlands. For reasons good and bad.

First, the positive. Malik Tillman’s 🇳🇱 two goals and one assist led PSV to an 8-0 away win at Heerenveen on Thursday. His first was an authoritative snap header at the far post (Watch), while his second was a clever strike with the outside of his boot while literally seated on the ground (Watch). Tillman now has nine goals and 12 assists on the season.

The lopsided victory put PSV nine points ahead of second-place Feyenoord with three matches left to play. Thanks to their plus-30 goal differential, Thursday’s win was effectively a title-winner for the Dutch side, and PSV players and fans celebrated like it afterwards.

One player who was conspicuous in his absence in the PSV starting lineup was left back Sergiño Dest 🇳🇱. The USMNT attack-minded defender badly hurt his knee in training on Saturday, an injury that The Athletic is reporting could keep him out of action for nine months, although Dest posted a video of him back on an exercise bike on Wednesday.

That same day, PSV manager Peter Bosz provided an injury update-update on behalf of Dest.

“(Dest) would love to be allowed to explain himself what exactly is going on and what the follow-up will be,” said Bosz. “That will happen soon. He would like it if he can do that in his own words instead of me doing that.”

The injury came shortly after reports that PSV was interested in making Dest’s loan from Barcelona permanent, and while there was some speculation that his injury may deter the Dutch leaders from signing him, Bosz put those notions to rest.

"I am talking for myself as a coach and as a staff. I would very much like to have him (here),” said Bosz on Wednesday. “It clicked in the way we played. It clicked as a person. It clicked with the player group."

While Dest’s PSV future appears very secure despite the injury, something that’s very much up in the air are his chances of playing for the USMNT in this summer’s Copa America, with ESPN calling him “a doubt” for the tournament.

Should Dest not be fit for Copa America, Gregg Berhalter does have options in replacing him. Normally an attacking player for the USMNT, roughly half of Tim Weah’s 🇮🇹 appearances for Juventus this season have been at right wing back. Joe Scally 🇩🇪, a natural right back, has 22 starts for a mid-table Borussia Mönchengladbach team this season. And Bryan Reynolds 🇧🇪 has made 31 starts for Westerlo in the Belgian top flight this season.

But Dest’s unique ability to attack with such creative vigor from full back is a rare weapon. One that would be sadly missed were he not able to participate in the USMNT’s last truly meaningful warmup before the 2026 World Cup.

Haji Wright, Tenacity Personified:

What a moment for Haji Wright 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿. Five weeks after scoring the stoppage-time quarter-final winner against Wolves, Wright became the first USMNT player ever to score in the semi-finals of the FA Cup by hitting a clutch penalty that sent Coventry City’s Wembley showdown with Manchester United to extra-time on Sunday (Watch).

Wright also had the assist on what looked to be the match-winner, only for VAR to controversially rule that Wright was offside. Still, to give joy like this to 36,000 traveling fans, even if fleeting, is something Haji and his teammates will never forget.

The 26-year-old from Los Angeles then calmly stepped up and made the first penalty of the ensuing shootout, only for Manchester United to eventually advance 4-2 on pens. 

At this stage, Coventry would be very hard pressed to make the promotion playoffs in the Championship, as the West Midlands club is nine points out of the last spot with three games left. But between his recent performances on the USMNT and for Coventry, it would not be a surprise if Wright was once again linked to a Premier League transfer this summer, as he was last year.

Either way, Wright’s journey has been incredible. The Angeleno who will never have to buy a meal in Coventry again, has stealth become one of the most tenacious players on the USMNT roster.

News and Notes:

• Amazing moment for Tim Weah 🇮🇹, as the 24-year-old from Rosedale, N.Y. assisted the goal which sent Juventus through to the Coppa Italia final on aggregate (Watch). The “shot or cross?” debate reigns, but who cares. Look how his Juve teammates celebrated with him. Weah needed that. 🙌

• Joe Scally 🇩🇪 (21; Lake Grove, NY) had an assist (Watch) in Gladbach’s 4-3 loss at Hoffenheim on Saturday, his third of the season.

• Josh Sargent 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (24; O’Fallon, MO) showed off some unselfish play in getting the assist for Norwich in their 1-1 draw with Bristol City (Watch). Sarge now has 15 goals and two assists in 24 Championship appearances this season.

• Gianluca Busio 🇮🇹 (21; Greensboro, NC) scored the winner for Venezia at Lecco on Saturday (Watch). The Lagoon-eers are three points out of the automatic promotion spots with four matches to play.

• Gio Reyna 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (21; Bedford, NY) got his second-straight start for Nottingham Forest, and probably should have drawn a penalty after seeming to get his heel clipped by Ashley Young (Watch).

• Griffin Yow 🇧🇪 (21; Clifton, VA) had a goal and an assist in Westerlo’s 3-3 draw with Standard Liege on Saturday (Watch). DMV Donovan now has seven goals and four assists for the Belgian club this season.

• Congrats are in order for Zyen Jones 🇸🇰 (23; Clarkston, GA), the former USYNT player who scored his first goal for Slovakian side FC Kosice.

• Excellent feature in The Athletic on Lennard Maloney 🇩🇪 (24; Berlin, GER), in which the Heidenheim midfielder talks about everything from the moment he received his call-up from Gregg, to the importance of his “bulldog spirit.” 

• Luca de la Torre 🇪🇸 (25; San Diego, CA) made a 13-minute substitute appearance for Celta Vigo in their 4-1 win over Las Palmas on Saturday, his first action since being injured over a month ago. 🙌 

• Alex Zendejas 🇲🇽 (26; El Paso, TX) scored his 10th goal of the season in all comps for Club America (Watch) in their 1-1 draw with Pachuca on Tuesday.

• Danny Trejo 🇵🇱 scored for Korona Kielce in their 4-1 win over Radomiak Radom on Friday in the Polish top flight. The 25-year-old from Mendota, Calif. has two goals and two assists in eight games this season.

Parting Shots:

We close this week with a tip of the cap to Justin Rennicks 🇫🇮. The 25-year-old from South Hamilton, Mass. has two goals in Finnish club AC Oulu’s first three games of their new campaign. After playing two years of college ball with the Indiana Hoosiers, the former USYNT player floated between MLS, USL League Two, and the USL Championship before heading to Finland at the age of 25. It takes a mix of guts and self-belief to embark on a European career midway through one’s professional career. Godspeed to the brand new American Abroad.